Improvement in postage-stamps



N. PETERS, Amin. wASnmaron. n c.

ADDIsON o. rLnrOHER, or New YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT 1N POSTAGE-STAMPS, 850.

Speczcaton forming part of Letters Patent N0. 91,108, dated June 8, 1869.

To all whom it may concern Beit known that 1, ADDISON C. FLETCHER, of 4the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Stamps, applicable to internal-revenue and other purposes, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming part of this specification, and in which-- Figures 1 and 2 represent face views and longitudinal sections of an internal-revenue stamp made in accordance with my improvement, according to two modications thereof.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts,

My invention consists in providing the stamp with a flap or flaps covering a por- A tion ot' its face, and arranging the vignette. design, or printed matter on said stamp to extend over the flap or tlaps and .remaining or uncovered portion of said face or body of the stamp.

By this application of my invention as applied to an adhesive stamp, whether for internal-revenue or other purposes, said stamp may be canceled by tearing off the flap or flaps, which, if necessary, may be preserved as evidence of the cancellation; 4 or, where not required to be preserved, the flap or flaps may either be torn olf and A thrown away, or be so mutilated by the act of canceling, as heretofore practiced on postage-stamps, (which, and other adhesive stamps, my invention is equally applicable to,) as that it will be impossible to use the same stamp over again without detection of the fraud.

Referring to the drawing, a is the main body of an internal-revenue stamp, of the ,paper ordinarily used, having mucilage or other adhesive matter on its back, and having secured to its face, for a. portion of its length or area, an outer piece of tissue or other thin paper or tlap, b, which is loose from the main body, excepting where joined to it, as at c, and which has impressed on it a continuation of the vignette or design that is seen in part on the remainder or uncovered portion of the main body.

A stamp thus constructed may be canceled by simply tearing off the tlap b, which may be separately preserved as evidence of the` cancellation; or, in case of a postagestamp, for instance, it may be so mutilated by the ordinary method of cancellation as to make the use of the stamp again, without detection of the fraud, impossible.

rl'he flap I) being made of thin or bibulous paper, the portion of the design upon it is protected from being effaced by chemical agents, in consequence of the fragile or peculiar nature of such paper, while the body a may be made of comparatively stout paper; or, especially where it is desired to preserve separate evidence of the cancellation, the tlapb, which is the portion torn otf in canceling, may be made of stout paper, and the main body a of' thin or bibulous paper.

ln Fig. 2 of the drawing the same principle of construction is shown, but the body a. represented as having duplicate flaps b b on the face ot' the stamp, which in some cases may be preferred to one.

What is here claimed, and desired to be secured by Letters Patent, is-

A postage or revenue stamp having a portion of its surface composed of thin or fragile paper or other suitable material, loosely attached, and on which a portion of the design or other matter is printed, substantially as and for the purpose or purposes set forth.

` Witnesses: ADDISON C. FLETCHER.

J. W. Goonies, ARTHUR KINNIER. 

